India’s most famous international actors Kabir Bedi was appointed as the honourary brand ambassador of Sightsavers India to prevent avoidable blindness by RN Mohanty, CEO of Sightsavers on February 17, 2017.

Kabirs’s association would help the organisation towards a focused journey with amplified impact in the coming days.

Birender Singh to be Ambassador of Togo

Birender Singh Yadav has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Togo, with residence in Accra (Ghana).

Yadav is presently working as the High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Ghana Togo.

He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.

Kohli named captain of the year at ESPN

Indian international cricketer Virat Kohli has named as the ‘Captain of the Year‘ at the 10th annual ESPNcricinfo Awards.

Kohli led India to nine wins out of 12 Tests in the year 2016.

Englishman Ben Stokes won the Test Batting Performance of the Year.

Stokes team-mate Stuart Broad got the Test Bowling Performance of the Year award for the second year running

National Science Day

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, a world renowned Physicist, made a path-breaking discovery which later was named as the Raman effect.

In order to push science as an important subject and to develop the passion towards it among the Indian youth, India celebrates the National Science day on February 28 every year.

He was awarded the knighthood in the year 1929 & won the Nobel Prize in 1930.

United Nations

It replaced ineffective League of Nations on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict.

At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193.

The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City.

The 6 official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

The 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC) began in Mobile World Capital Barcelona on February 27, 2017 and will conclude on March 2, 2017.

MWC is the world’s largest gathering for the mobile industry, organised by the GSMA.

The global tech industry gathers to get participate in new smartphone launches, VR and AR developments, chipsets and wearables.

Rare butterfly varieties spotted

Ayyanarkoil Falls, which is situated within the Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary in Srivilliputhur, is also a habitat for very rare butterfly species.

The Rajapalayam Butterfly Club, a wing of Wildlife Association of Rajapalayam has identified 220 species of butterflies here including the highly uncommon Silver Royal and Fluffy Tit.

The Silver Royal is a rare species that we have spotted

A digital archive for Rashtrapati Bhavan

The architectural history and the heritage of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the 340-room official residence of the President of India, has been documented in a series of books.

Concise web-based modules are set to bring to life the architectural and cultural grandeur of the iconic building, designed and constructed by legendary British architect Edwin Lutyens.

TN rolls out ₹800-crore plan for farmers

A comprehensive scheme of over ₹800 crore, benefitting at least 12 lakh farmers engaged in dry land agriculture and targeting coverage of around 18 lakh hectares, has been launched in 25 districts.

The scheme envisages mobilisation of agriculturists through farmers’ clubs, formation of 1,000 clusters.

Crop insurance will also be covered.

Gopal Baglay becomes MEA spokesperson

Indian Foreign Service officer Gopal Baglay will replace Vikas Swarup as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Swarup was on February 16 appointed as the Indian high commissioner to Canada.

Baglay, a 1992 batch IFS officer, has earlier served as deputy high commissioner to Pakistan.

The Haryana government has set up an online system called sex ratio monitoring dashboard as part of the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Scheme to monitor the sex ratio in the Panipat district.

The system will have the data of child sex ratio collected from all villages every month in the district by the state Health and Women and Child Welfare Departments.

Pests eat away India’s 35% of yield

According to Indian Council of Agricultural Research scientist, pests eat away about 30-35% of the annual crop yield in India.

Such large-scale crop-loss is having an adverse effect on the agricultural biosafety which is paramount to food security of the country.

Key Facts Among such pests, nematodes have emerged as a major threat to crops in the country.

Robot table tennis tutor sets record

World’s first robot table tennis tutor in Japan has set a new Guinness World Record for its uncanny ability of being able to play the game better than most humans.

FORPHEUS (Future Omron Robotics Technology for Exploring Possibility of Harmonized Automation with Sinic Theoretics) has officially been given the Guinness title for its unique technological intelligence & educational capabilities.

Saina to represent Olympic Committee

Saina Nehwal was appointed as a member of the Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission in 2016, will represent the panel in the Badminton World Federation.

Saina would join the Badminton World Federation Athletes’ Commission as a representative of the IOC AC.

Currently, ranked world number 10 in BWF rankings, Saina is now aiming to win the prestigious All England Championship in March 2017.

Gopi, Athare win men’s and women’s races

Rio Olympian Thanackal Gopi won the men’s title in the second edition of the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon held on 26 February 2017.

Monika Athare claimed the honors in the women’s section.

In Men’s full marathon, Gopi clocked 2 hours, 15 minutes and 37 seconds to win the race in his first appearance in the event.

She also flagged off an ambulance fitted with equipment and trained paramedical staff required for treatment of heart disease.

RAHAT aims to provide people in remote and rural areas with timely treatment during heart attacks.

TCS Ranked Among Top Three IT Brands

India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services has been rated as one of the top three ‘most-valuable brands’ in the Information Technology service sector by Brand Finance, the leading global brand valuation firm.

As IBM and Accenture are on the top two positions.

However, the overall global position of the company dropped down by one spot to 25th from 2016 when it was 24th.

SoftBank, Foxconn form joint venture

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and Taiwan’s Foxconn have agreed to form a joint venture, as the two large Asian technology companies expand their ties.